Cylons Invade Us
by Mandarax
Summary: Vignette into Laura Roslin's thoughts as she watches the Centurions march through the market place. Slight spoilers for part 2 of Lay Down Your Burdens.


Cylons Invade Us/Blondi

11/1/06  
Rating: PG  
Pairing: none, sorry…  
Summary: Vignette into Laura Roslin's thoughts at the moment of the Cylon march through the market place.  
Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Laura Roslin was not a fearful woman. She did not fear the cancer that spread through her body from right breast to brain, threatening her life. She did not fear for her life when the threat of assassination shadowed her every move. The decision to leave The Twelve Colonies of Kobol after the attack was not driven by fear. She was not afraid at that moment on Kobol just before Bill Adama came out of the bushes. But fear gripped her heart and soul when the Centurions marched down the market place the day of the second Cylon Invasion.

All hell was about to break loose.

Her arms crossed in front of her, she watched as a countless number of Cylons marched on. What would happen now? What will the Cylons do to them? Baltar led the machines to them after all. Damn that man.

Many of the others watching the endless parade caught her eyes, trying to gauge the reaction of the woman who'd known this would happen long before. Old habits reasserted themselves and while her heart and thoughts were in turmoil, her expression did not give any of it away. Instead she met gazes eye to eye, trying, as much she possibly could, to reassure them wordlessly, without knowing what she was reassuring them about.

More and more eyes turned to her; she could feel them on her. They still turned to her as a people would turn to their leader in a time of need. Had there been a senate or congress instated, surely she would have been elected.

She looked around. Kara Thrace stood across the market street, hands covering her mouth as their eyes met. They held their eyes interlocked until finally Kara had to blink the tears away. Saul and Ellen Tigh stood by Thrace, their features turned in shock. Ellen hung to her husband's arm, gripping it with fear. He'd only just arrived at the colony. A few feet away Galen Tyrol stood with the other union workers, staring at the Centurions, still marching. Tyrol's haunted eyes searched the crowd until finally finding his target. Laura followed his gaze to find Cally's eyes, full of fear and strength, locked with her husband's, the tiny bundle in her arms serving as the source of strength it would any mother.

Others she'd worked with met her gaze. Tory, who'd been on her way to the school-tent to help Laura with the classes looked frightened, something Laura had never seen Tory look before. The eyes of the parents whose children attended her school found hers. Some gazes held an apology for not believing in her all those months ago. Others were pledging their trust to her.

She sighed heavily, visibly.

Had Bill Adama been there, standing with them, would they have turned to him as their leader instead of her?

Around her she heard murmurs of distaste, dislike, hate. She felt herself coming alive with habits she thought she'd never use again as a politician and a woman. She listened intently to anything around her, the way she used to do as president – it was the best tactic to know what was happening around her, what her people were feeling. She listened closely to the soft words of the people around her. Extrapolation of the murmur, its topic, its tone, its meaning burned their way from her unconsciousness to the front and center of her mind. Even before they knew it, the people of New Caprica were beginning to organize for a rebellion, and she was proud of them for it.

And the Cylons still marched.

Someone hissed the name of the president, and Laura knew that if the people could get their hands on Gaius Baltar now, he'd surely be dead.

If the situation might not have been so completely disastrous, she might have laughed at her opponent. The people who elected Baltar for President will be the people who will bring him down.

And still the Cylons marched.


End file.
